An article in the January 8th Wall Street Journal called “The High Price of Beauty” revealed what four women spend annually to maintain their looks. Average cost? $20,000. For some that’s a child’s school tuition. For others it’s a mortgage. For these women and many others it’s annual maintenance. I used to be that woman. I’ve been a beauty junkie who has spent a small fortune over the years. I still have drawers and bowls of beauty products to show for it But what needed fixing first was my self-image. This couldn’t be treated with shots, creams and serums. I still value a great
Read more →You know what’s music to my ears? It’s the sound of a confident person who can toot her own horn without sounding like a blowhard. Many people try it. Some succeed; others fail. Think of politicians, for example. It’s strange. While the public relations industry is filled with confident, talented women who know how to toot horns to promote their clients, many lack volume in their own self-promotion. I’m not intentionally leaving out men, but women tend to downplay their achievements more than the opposite sex. Examples:”It’s nothing really…” or “I’m just a stay-at-home mom…” Remember this: If you downplay
Read more →I hope you had a fabulous holiday and have started the New Year with a smile and some bubbles. While many people spend the holidays making their gift list and checking it twice, others focus more attention on their New Year’s resolution list. I am one of those people. As a New Year’s baby, I’ve always taken my resolution making seriously. Each year I bring out my special New Year’s diary and write down 10 resolutions for the year. It has always been 10 resolution plus 10 things I am grateful for. I’ve been doing this same ritual since 1989. Did you know only only 8%
Read more →I used to dread going home to Chattanooga for the holidays when I was single. My mother would always invite eligible men to various dinners to meet me. Most often they were soft, menschy types and this gal liked athletic, preppy boys. Some were interested in meeting other men and not me. I sighed with frustration hearing comments from family friends like, “Such as shame she hasn’t found a nice man yet.” Note, “she” was usually in the room within earshot. My worst holiday dating experience was when I brought my sophomore college boyfriend home after Christmas. My mother came out
Read more →Given the number of emails filling my inbox and TV segments about dealing with holiday stress I have to wonder, “Are holidays becoming holicrazy?” Are we so stressed over wrapping up the year in a nice package and getting it all done in time that we don’t have time to really enjoy the season? Many of us face shopping for gifts, wrapping up year end finances, planning holiday travel, scheduling the kids’ activities when they are out of school and juggling every day tasks. And then there’s that year-end “taking stock” of your life and making New Year’s resolutions to: lose weight,
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The conversation usually starts like this: “I really admire what you’re doing and all your success. I have an idea and would love to pick your brain if you have some time. Maybe a cup of coffee?” The thing is, my brain is for hire and not for picking. I’ve been picked and pitched for years to land clients and much of the time was wasted and ideas misused. I have learned a pretty penny about the value of time and how to spend it wisely. So I politely say the usual writer line, “I’d love to chat and and
Read more →I recently had the opportunity to check something off my travel “bucket list”- hunting for Mother’s Nature’s black and white diamonds in Italy. (aka truffles). The season for the best truffles is short, October to December, and restaurants around the country lure devoted fans with pricey “truffle dinners.” I’ve only enjoyed truffles shaved over dishes at places like SD26 (sadly now closed), Spago Beverly Hills and Spiaggia in Chicago. So, an invitation to go to the source was a dream come true. Our generous host was Livia Colantonio, proprietor of Castello delle Regine in Umbria, who opened up her majestic home- literally a small
Read more →The ad announced a search for the next food and drink critic for the weekly, Time Out NY.. It stated: Here’s the deal: We’re on the hunt to crown the city’s next great food writer. You don’t have to have any professional experience as a critic—just a passion for New York City’s culinary scene and the world of eating. My professional food writer friends blanched. No professional experience necessary. On one hand, I support giving a newcomer a chance at a career. On the other, it is absurd to hire someone with no professional food writing or reviewing experience, who may have not even have restaurant
Read more →A chef whom I knew and respected died this past week at the age of 50 after a long battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a devastating and progressive neurodegenerative disease. His name was Gerry Hayden, and his restaurant was the critically acclaimed North Fork Table & Inn on Long Island. I had just discussed booking a dinner at his restaurant with my friend Kathy, and then she sent me his obituary. Gerry Hayden stood heads above many star chefs in the kitchen even though he was confined to a wheelchair. Though his arms and hands were useless for cooking, his mind
Read more →My father was deaf in his left ear, probably due to military artillery when he served in the army. He liked to call it his “Buy My! Give Me! Get Me! Ear” because he slept on the right side of my mother. My mother said my father’s real hearing problem was that he was hard of listening. He listened when it was interesting to him; otherwise he ignored the chatter. Do you know people like that? They just don’t listen, or they listen selectively. Worse these days is distracted listening. You know what I mean: People who are multi-tasking or texting and scrolling
Read more →I recently created a YouTube video channel for my TV appearance. Why do screen shots of your videos capture your worst expression ever? In my case it’s usually between a pain-anger-or what smells? look. I’ve spent hours trying to figure out how to fix a dire “resting screen shot” face. No matter how hard I try to have RFF (Restful Fabulous Face) in my video interviews, inevitable the little Code Ninjas that live inside the world of Facebook, Google and YouTube capture me at my worst. Of course, in the world of women and beauty, this expression has a term and, ultimately, some
Read more →Do women apologize too much? According to several articles including one recently in The New York Times by Sloane Crosley (June 23, 2015), women say “I’m sorry” more than they need to and far more than men do. Excuse me for asking (whoops!), but why is that? One study reports that “men apologize less frequently than women because they have a higher threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.” So men can be boorish where women are polite to the point of being overly apologetic. I agree that many of us apologize too often for reasons that don’t really matter. As in “I’m sorry to bother you.”
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